Tulpehocken Creek above its confluence with the the Schuylkill River at Reading. The Union Canal which was constructed between 1792 and 1828 followed the Tulpehocken Creek westward, then through a tunnel, to connect via the Swatara Creek flowing westward to the Susquehanna River at Middletown below Harrisburg. This was one of several efforts in that era to divert coal and farm produce to markets in Philadelphia whose merchants were in competition with those of Baltimore.